Anderson County asks residents to donate water to Cocke County

Citizens throughout Anderson County are being asked to donate bottled water at the Anderson County jail to help people in Cocke Count y.

This request is part of a coordinated effort between Anderson County government, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department , Anderson County Mayor’s Office, and Anderson County Emergency Management Agency to collect the bottled water for Cocke County residents, who have been affected by Hurricane Helene.

Carter Logistics and Advanced Transportation are making the semi-trucks available and will take the donations to Cocke County. Semi-trucks are parked at the Anderson County Detention Facility, more familiarly called the Anderson County jail, located at 308 Public Safety Lane in Clinton. People may drop off packs of bottled water that will be loaded onto the trucks, and when the trailers are full, the water will be delivered to specific distribution points in Cocke County in coordination with government officials in that county.

“I was on a call this morning with my fellow East Tennessee county mayors and Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis. He told us his county’s immediate needs, intermediate needs, and long-term needs,” Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said in a news release.

“Sheriff Barker has already been working with his fellow sheriffs to help, and there is a massive, ongoing coordinated effort between highway superintendents, and emergency management agencies in several counties to communicate and share resources. We all want to help our communities, and our citizens, begin to heal and recover from this natural disaster,” the mayor said.

While, for now, the primary need is bottled water for the residents of Cocke County, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department will also accept donations of batteries and contractor-grade trash bags.

Cocke County was one of the many counties impacted by flooding and rain because of Hurricane Helene, which devastated homes and businesses in northeast Tennessee, western North Carolina, and other states, leaving many families without homes, and communities without safe drinking water due to damage to utility systems.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Anderson County asks residents to donate water to Cocke County